The Healthy Guide to a Diabetes Diet

When other diabetics come to me for advice on how to maintain a healthy diabetes diet, I always begin the conversation by telling them what they already know: managing your blood sugar through your food is the key to living with diabetes. A diabetes diet focuses more on nutrition and maintenance than comfort and cravings. And, especially for newly diagnosed diabetics, this change can be scary. But did you know that it only takes about seven weeks for your taste buds to change? And once you start to reaping the benefits of a healthy diet, you won't want to return to your unhealthy eating habits.

The first step to a healthy diabetes diet is to not think of it as a "diet". When you have diabetes, maintaining your health means maintaining your blood sugar. All the time. Which means committing to making healthy choices. Every day. Bottom line. And that's good news for you and your family. Diabetics have to make the healthy lifestyle and diet choices that the rest of us just should. The first, best step to accepting the diabetes diet is talking to your loved ones about the choices you need to make and how everyone will benefit.

Starches and Carbohydrates

Sticking to a diabetes diet does not mean that you have to give up on starchy foods. Diabetics should stay away from processed white bread and pasta, but so should everyone else. They have little to no nutritional value and their high glycemic index is the root cause of many people's overeating.

As a diabetic, your guide to carbs and starches should be their glycemic index. Foods that have low gylcemic indeces have minimal impact on the body's blood sugar levels. And, people that stick to foods that have low glycemic indeces tend to have lower levels of body fat.

Great foods to stick with are whole grain breads. When purchasing a whole grain bread, be sure that you can see the grains in the bread. Food for Life make's great all natural breads that are available in many stores. I recommend at least trying a whole bread brand that you find in your freezer section just to see the nutritional and physical difference between these breads and what you and your family have been eating.

Whole grain cereals, beans and starchy vegetables are also great sources of good starches for a diabetes diet. When working these into your diet, try to aim for at least six servings a day. A diabetes diet needs more starches than a healthy one. They keep our blood sugar down and keep you from feeling hungry which can lead to bad food decisions.

Fruits and Vegetables

You should never feel hungry on a diabetes diet. One way to prevent this is to snack on fruits and vegetables all day long. Try to eat as many raw fruits and veggies as you can handle. You will find that five is a lot to fit in between meals and you'll always be full. Let them replace sugary, processed snacks and add them to your starches and fibers for tasty, satisfying meals.

Sugars and Fats

If you started reading this section hoping to see a list of sweets that you can get away with eating, then you are thinking in the wrong mindset. These types of foods don't belong in a diabetes diet. They don't belong in anyone's diet. They have no nutritional value and once you've cut them out of your diet you'll realize that you don't need them at all.

Take baby steps. Limit yourself to one sugary "no-no" a week. Save it for a social occasion: share it with your loved one, or wait until you go out to dinner and split it with a friend.

Fruits, vegetables and low glycemic index carbohydrates are what should be the cornerstone of everyone's diet. If making such a drastic change sounds scary to you, remember that it only takes six weeks to change your taste buds.

For meal ideas, check out the American Diabetes Association's Food Advisor.